It's no longer a case of designer handbags at ten paces.
LVMH, the world's biggest luxury group behind fashion brands Louis Vuitton and Dior, has set a date of 17 December to redistribute its shares in rival Hermès to end a long-running dispute.
LVMH started building a holding in its smaller rival in 2010, amassing a 23 per cent stake which rattled Hermès, who feared a hostile takeover. In September, the two houses buried the hatchet and LVMH finally agreed to offload this stake.
In Paris on Monday, the company outlined the terms of the distribution, which will be voted on at a combined general meeting on 25 November, and if approved, paid on 17 December.
The deal that brought about this truce will see LVMH investors receive one Hermès share for every 21 LVMH shares they currently hold. The group's main investors include Christian Dior, which holds 42 per cent of LVMH, and the Groupe Arnault, a family holding company, which owns 5 per cent. On Monday, the two sides said:
LVMH has agreed to distribute to its shareholders all of the Hermès shares held by the LVMH group on the understanding that Christian Dior, which currently holds 40.9% of LVMH's share capital through Financière Jean Goujon, will distribute the Hermès shares that it receives from LVMH to its own shareholders.
LVMH, Financière Jean Goujon and Christian Dior and their respective subsidiaries have agreed not to acquire any Hermès shares during a five-year period as from the date on which all of the Hermès shares representing rights to fractional shares or non-distributed Hermès shares have been sold.
Mr. Bernard Arnault has agreed over the same aforementioned five-year period, on his own behalf and that of the companies which he controls directly or indirectly . . . not to hold, either on his own or jointly, directly or indirectly, a number of Hermès shares exceeding that which he will receive under the distributions, which will represent approximately 8.5% of Hermès share capital.